


A Metaphysical Inheritance

by McBangle



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Existential Angst, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, Metaphysical Awareness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 05:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10892856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McBangle/pseuds/McBangle
Summary: When Dex discovers a strange note from former goalie John Johnson in a mysterious book, his life changes in ways he never could have predicted.





	A Metaphysical Inheritance

**Spring, Season 3**

Dex grunts as he pulls the dryer away from the wall. He just has to keep it working for another few weeks until they have enough money in the Sin Bin to buy a new one. It would be _nice_ if someone would help him move it for once, but _no_ , it’s obviously too much to expect a little basic human decency from his teammates.

With one last effort, he heaves the dryer far enough out to access the wiring.

Huh. There’s something on the ground that hadn’t been there the last time he’d fixed the dryer. He crouches down to inspect it.

A small book lies on the ground, roughly the length and width of a large index card and about a centimeter thick. The back cover proclaims “Dear Lord, I _love_ HOCKEY!” in a deep red font. He flips it over.

The front cover displays a picture of Bitty in uniform, looking backwards over his shoulder. A red-tinted picture of the backs of Jack’s, Ransom’s, Holster’s, Shitty’s and that weird former goalie’s heads is at the top of the cover, and another red-tinted picture of pie is at the bottom. The title, “Check, Please!”, surrounds a stylized hockey stick.

Weird. It looks like some kind of tie-in merchandise for Bitty’s vlog, but what was it doing behind the dryer?

Dex flips through the photobook. It’s full of candid shots of the team and what appear to be screenshots from Bitty’s vlog. It’s hard to figure out who had taken a few of the pictures.

As he turns a page, a folded-up piece of note paper falls out of the book and floats to the floor. Dex sits down to read the note, feeling only the slightest twinge of guilt over going through Bitty’s things without his permission.

> Congratulations, Dex! You have unlocked Metaphysical Awareness! It’s a weighty responsibility, but ultimately beneficial to the story. I think you’ll find that you’ll know everything you need to know within the next few seconds, but if you ever need to talk, drop me a line in the OMGCP Home Office.
> 
> J. Johnson

What the…

Dex is knocked backwards by a sudden feeling of everything rushing in on him and then expanding just as suddenly outward.

Eyes. So many eyes. There are eyes watching him _everywhere_.

No, not just him. Watching the whole team.

No, not the entire team. Bitty, Jack, Ransom, Holster, Lardo, Shitty, Chowder, Nursey, him, and occasionally Whiskey, Tango, Ollie and Wicks. But _especially_ Bitty.

And now Ford. Ford, who had appeared out of seemingly nowhere at the exact moment that they needed a new manager. Ford, who Dex is positive he’d never seen on campus before Nursey had handed her that flyer yet here she is now, with friends and a musical and a backstory being filled in more and more by the second…

Ford, who needs a hockey name.

He takes the stairs two at a time. He doesn’t know why he found that book and gained this awareness when he did, but one thing is clear to him: Ford needs a nickname.

Dex bursts into the kitchen. Lardo and Ford are seated at the kitchen table going over the books together, while Ransom and Holster eat pie out of a tin. Perfect. He’s not surprised. They are exactly the people who need to be in the Haus at this moment, so of course they’re all here.

“Ford needs a nickname,” he pants, leaning over to catch his breath. “Ransom, Holster, do your thing.” He waves a hand between the two of them.

His co-captains’ faces light up. “Bro! Yes! Ford needs a hockey name!”

Holster adopts a thinking pose. “OK. What do we have to work with here?” He paces around the kitchen table, intermittently stopping to throw out suggestions. “Forzy? Nah. Forcer? Uh, not really the aesthetic we’re going for. Hmm…” He snaps his fingers impatiently in the air.

“Ford Fiesta?” Ransom suggests.

“Bro, yes! That’s why you’re the best! Bring it in!” Holster fist-bumps Ransom and embraces him in one of their weird overly-close hugs.

“No! Are you kidding me? Those are all terrible suggestions!” Dex explodes. “What is the matter with you two? You both can do better than that!”

And then it hits him. He knows exactly why they literally cannot do any better than that. Not today. Because the writer of the current AU can’t think of any better nicknames. If Ford’s going to get her nickname – and the story needs her to get her nickname – then it’s going to have to be up to him.

Dex sighs heavily and buries his face in his hands. “Foxtrot. Her nickname is Foxtrot.”

“Sick nickname!” Ransom shouts.

“Noiiice!” Holster crows.

“Sweet,” Lardo nods.

“I love foxes!” Ford beams.

“Of course you do,” Dex rolls his eyes. “And together with the tadpoles, that makes them…”

“Whiskey, Tango and Foxtrot!” Ransom and Holster high-five.

“At least _that’s_ handled,” Dex grumbles, turning back toward the basement. “Is this what my life is going to be like from now on? How have you all survived since Johnson graduated?”

_X_

**Fall, Season 4**

Dex is a supporting character.

He’s a supporting character in his _own damn life_.

At some level, he’s probably known it since he found that note from Johnson last semester. Hell, some part of him may have known it from his first appearance. But he’d steadfastly stayed in denial all this time.

It’s not exactly an easy thing to admit about himself. That he only exists to influence the main character and provide interesting background color for the readers. That the best outcome he could hope for is to be featured in an engaging subplot. That his life – such that it is – will cease to exist the moment that Bitty graduates from Samwell. If he’s lucky, Bitty’s story will continue and he and Jack will occasionally visit the campus or the team will visit them in Providence. If he’s not lucky – and let’s face it, Dex hasn’t been very lucky to date – then Bitty’s entire story arc will wrap up when he graduates and then… Bye bye, Dex.

He’d tried to convince himself that he was the star of an Enemies to Friends to Lovers fic, but the evidence to the contrary is becoming harder and harder to ignore. The picture of Bitty on the cover of Check, Please!: Year One should have been his first tip-off.

Anytime he’s not in the Haus or at practice or team breakfast – or otherwise not with Bitty – his life goes… spotty. He’s pretty sure he attends his classes – he has a 3.85 GPA to prove it – but his memories of coursework and homework are hazy at best. And he’s positive he _must_ sleep and use the facilities, but it’s as if neither of those activities ever happen. They’re just not important to the narrative. Not important to _Bitty’s_ narrative, he corrects himself.

If it weren’t for Nursey, he’d probably be in despair. Nursey is the only thing that makes Dex’s life snap into focus when Bitty isn’t around.

Dex had been in shock when the coin had landed on its edge in the floorboards, but now he can see it for what it was: the kind of unbelievable coincidence that only happens when the story needs it to happen.

When he’d first had his metaphysical awakening, he’d made what he had believed to be an entirely self-serving decision to spend as much time with Nursey as possible. The Great Creator had gone to great lengths to get them to share a room, so obviously she wanted them together in some capacity. And he got markedly more screen time, reblogs, commentary and fanfiction when he appeared together with Nursey then when he was on his own or with other characters.

But, well, Nursey had grown on him.

Oh who the hell is he kidding? It’s a lot more than that.

It had all started with that damned coin. They’d been getting along better all sophomore year, finally becoming friends, and it had been nice if for no other reason than because Chowder was obviously happier when Dex and Nursey got along. But being friends was one thing. Wanting to live with his klutzy, poetry-spewing hipster teammate was another altogether.

If they hadn’t been forced to share a room, he probably never would have thought of Nursey as anything more than his occasionally-irritating friend and fellow d-man. Sure, he might’ve admitted to himself that he was attracted to Nurse – he is, after all, undeniably gorgeous, and it’s impossible to ignore how many of the readers ship them together – but he probably would never have acted on it. But living together had made him see Nursey in a whole new light.

Sometimes literally. He can’t help but stare at the sight that greets him nearly every morning: Nursey, somehow still sleeping despite being draped halfway off his lower bunk in nothing but boxer briefs, his tattooed arm sprawled across his eyes, his muscular chest glistening with sweat… Dex has been taking extra-long showers in the morning ever since they moved in together.

But he could handle the physical stuff. No, it’s the Feelings that are torturing Dex.

He used to think Nursey was just some pretentious hipster. But when he’s not wearing the mask that he ordinarily shows to the world, Nursey is a lot more vulnerable and a lot less chill than he acts. It’s been a revelation getting to know the real Nurse, so much so that Dex has even been letting his own guard down around him.

It’s funny. He’d assumed that living with Nursey would be one nonstop fight, but now that they’re being real with each other, they talk all the time. And Dex is finding that he’s really interested in what Nursey has to say, and he really cares about Nursey’s opinion of him. He’d rather hang out with Nursey than anyone else. He even thinks about him when he’s not around.

When he sees something Nursey would like, he can’t wait to tell him about it. When somebody says something infuriating, all he can think of is what Nursey would say if he were there. Even when he’s with Nursey, he itches to reach out and touch him, to say something foolish, to…

But isn’t that exactly what The Great Creator wants him to feel? How can you know what you feel if you don’t even know if your feelings are real?

(Damnit, he’s even starting to think in poems now. This is serious.)

If The Great Creator wants him and Nursey together, then did he ever really decide to spend more time with Nursey, or was that decision made by the Great Creator on his behalf? Does he truly feel any of the things he _thinks_ he’s starting to feel for Nursey, or is he just written that way?

Some days it’s just all too much. If putting Johnson’s note back in that book would erase this awareness then he’d do it in a second.

_X_

**Spring, Season 4**

“Hey, babe?” Derek lifts his head off of Dex’s chest and gazes at Dex. He’s got that nervous wrinkle in his brow. Dex bites back an urge to smooth his fingers over Derek’s brow and opts instead to snuggle in closer.

Trading their bunk beds to the Volleyball team in exchange for a queen-sized bed had _definitely_ been a good move. His only regret was that he hadn’t thought of it sooner. In fact, in retrospect that would have been a great way to seduce Derek. Bed Sharing is an _excellent_ trope.

“Will? You awake?” …Right. Derek had been saying something.

“Hmm?” Dex smiles sleepily at his boyfriend. His _boyfriend_. It’s been a few months, but it’s still amazing to think that Derek is his… _Right, Dex, listen to your boyfriend_ , he reminds himself.

“I’m being crazy, right? Tomorrow’s just another day.” Derek flops on his back to Dex’s left and stares up at the ceiling.

Oh. _Oh._ Tomorrow.

“I mean, it’s sad, yo, that Bitty and Ollie and Wicks are graduating, but we’ll still see them all the time, right?” Derek continues. “Like, it was totes sad when Shits and Jack graduated, and I def. had hashtag Feels when Ransom and Holster graduated, but it’s all just, like, another phase in the circle of life, right?” Derek rolls onto his right side and props his head up on his hand. “I mean, it’s crazy, but I’ve got the weirdest feeling like this is some kind of big ending, but that can’t be right, can it? I’m being dumb, aren’t I?”

It’s not that Dex had forgotten tomorrow’s significance – Bitty’s graduation and a possible ending to this story they’re living in – he’s been keenly aware of it since he had his awakening. Six months ago, he’d been terrified of the inevitable finale. But at the moment, it’s hard to think of a better ending.

The story has given him everything he had ever wanted and more. It’s given him the best friends anyone could hope for, more laughter and love than he would ever have thought possible, a Frozen Four championship, and the most amazing boyfriend in the world. If it all ends tomorrow with his friends’ graduation, Bitty triumphant in life and love, Dex, Nursey, and all of their friends with happy endings of their own, then he can’t imagine being anything but blissfully happy.

Dex caresses Derek’s face, the fingertips of his right hand brushing against Derek’s stubble, and smiles fondly at his boyfriend. “You’re never dumb, but no, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Nothing ever ends.”

It’s true, he knows. Even if The Great Creator ends the story tomorrow, they will live on in fanfiction.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't shake the feeling that this may have been inspired by someone else's headcanon, but for the life of me I can't recall who it was. If it was you (or you know who it was), let me know in the comments and I'll add an acknowledgement!
> 
> Nursey draped halfway out of bed in his boxers inspired by the-sacred-pecan-pie's [Nursey Nap Collection](https://the-sacred-pecan-pie.tumblr.com/post/159955142560/the-nursey-collection). Do yourself a favor and check it out!


End file.
